Canadian Government Executive - Volume 24 - Issue 04

50 / Canadian Government Executive // July/August 2018 INNOVATION T he well-publicized scrap be- tween Canada’s Auditor General and the Clerk of the Privy Coun- cil questioning if the climate of the public sector is broken got my inter- est. Research shows that a culture that supports new thinking is crucial for in- novation. I do not know if the culture is broken, but there are weaknesses. While Canada’s CIO (and now Deputy Minister) Alex Benay is a great cheerlead- er for digital change, I still can’t renew my passport online (CBC Report). In 2014, I renewed my Kiwi passport while living in Melbourne. I only needed a digital photo from Australia Post. I input my details, up- loaded my photo, and pressed “enter.” Two days later it left New Zealand by courier to arrive in Melbourne overnight. Last year, I met Darryl Carpenter who led this transformation as part of New Zealand Shared Services. His said the goal is to re- new passports within 36 hours. Having lived and worked in public ser- vice in New Zealand, I can confirm it has a culture of ideas. Creating a culture open to new ideas starts with a foundation of trust. This is the strongest predictor for innovation as trust is the lubricant for ideas to flow freely through an organization to solve its challenges. To nurture trust, many Governments have embraced innovation strategies. Having worked on strategies in various countries, it is important to translate vi- sion statements into objectives which cas- cade to staff and manager programs. I was privy to several strategies in Singapore when it launched a national public ser- vice innovation skills program. I wrote an innovation guide that went to 20,000 staff and managers. There are lessons from this work; innovation does not happen without effective internal communication strategies to make it meaningful to staff. Australia spent a year developing, “Em- powering Change: Fostering Innovation in the Australia Public Sector.” This 130-page strategy started in 2009. Canada’s effort was more modest in its, “Blueprint 2020”. So modest in fact, the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) called it “relatively immature” (draft 2017). It was not critical of current actions (mostly in- novation labs); it was critical of the lack of other initiatives. Its conclusions, based on interviews with 100 public servants involved with innovation, are insightful (quoting the report): • “There is no overall picture of the inno- vation system, what it includes, what it involves, what is happening, or how it is performing. • There is no overriding sense of what the intent driving the system is. • The behaviours and norms for support- ing innovation are not well established or explicit. • There is no shared sense across the sys- tem of what needs to happen next.” As a strategist, I see two problems in these comments: 1. The vision of innovation was not trans- lated into clear and compelling strate- gies and programs. 2. There is too little communication to give staff and managers a personal un- derstanding of innovation and what it means to be innovative on the job. I will expand on other issues in this article. Innovation: translating vision into programs Innovation always has two challenges: 1. Public service innovation: creating in- novative solutions to innovate systems, practices and service delivery. 2. Building capacity and skills to innovate: BY ED BERNACKI INNOVATION + COMMUNICATION = CULTURE OF INNOVATION